“Colour itself is form and, at the other end, the canvas itself is form. When the mind is attuned to a state of high receptivity to absorb all, then nothing can leave behind a single impress. Gaitonde’s work, thus reverberates to a silence that is sound, to a rhythm above and beyond harmony, to an awareness beyond definition” (S.G. Vasudev, “V.S. Gaitonde”, Indian Painting Today 1981, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, 1981, p. 75).

In this canvas from the late 1970s, the layers of deep ochre part to reveal lighter, ethereal forms that float ambiguously between the representative and the abstract. Often described as calligraphic, and reminiscent of the artist’s cartouche-like ink drawings, these pulsating forms are influenced by Gaitonde’s study of Zen Buddhism. In his 1983 monograph on the artist, Nadkarni notes, “There is a logical connection between the calligraphic exercises and the flourish of hieroglyphs in his early work on the one hand and the character of motifs in the new canvases. Gaitonde was already steeped in Japanese motifs long before his interest in Zen began to feature in his creative impulses. His sketches and drawings are full of exercises in this direction, and one admires not only the architectonics of these hieroglyphic designs but also their genuineness. Such patterns are now meaningfully deployed in the paintings. They also perform a stylistic function by organising the formal tensions in the available space and by quietly dramatising the interplay of light, texture and space” (Gaitonde, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, 1983, not paginated).

“Colour itself is form and, at the other end, the canvas itself is form. When the mind is attuned to a state of high receptivity to absorb all, then nothing can leave behind a single impress. Gaitonde’s work, thus reverberates to a silence that is sound, to a rhythm above and beyond harmony, to an awareness beyond definition” (S.G. Vasudev, “V.S. Gaitonde”, Indian Painting Today 1981, Jehangir Art Gal